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Chase Rice

Country music maverick Chase Rice has become one of country music's most exciting figures since arriving in Nashville, building a loyal fan base across the country through his energetic live shows and gaining attention with his edgy, eclectic sound. Following the success of his debut album, "Ignite the Night," Rice has released his sophomore album, "Lambs & Lions," which is now available everywhere.

The past few years have been monumental ones for Rice. The budding superstar toured the world with four massive headlining tours and stadium-show opening runs for country megastars including Kenny Chesney and Dierks Bentley. "I was just having fun. I was riding the wave," he says. Rice embarked a coast-to-coast "Lambs and Lions Tour" on Sept. 14. The tour ends two continents, three countries, six months, five support acts and 30 tour dates later at Atlanta's Buckhead Theatre.

Rice admits the enormous success of the Gold-certified "Ignite the Night" caught him by surprise. It's not that he wasn't confident in his songs, but rather that the project was him "throwing darts on a map and seeing where we were gonna go." And after the success of his major label debut album, which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums and No. 3 on the all-genre chart, Chase Rice turned his cheek and took the path less traveled. As he readily recounts, the country music star has only grown more self-aware, mature and grateful in the wake of his success. "I'm a different person in a lot of ways," Rice says looking back at his younger self, who moved to Nashville following the sudden death of his father "having no clue what the hell I was doing," wrote a batch of killer songs and went for broke in the country music industry. "I was searching," Rice says. "I didn't know who I was as an artist. But now, it's a new me. It's a whole new deal. Now I know exactly where I am in life." He laughs. "Well, not exactly. But I've got a better idea, anyway."

"It's still a continuous climb up the mountain," Rice says of evolving his craft and looking forward to what the future holds for him. Ask him what propels him forward and the country star will tell you it's undoubtedly a continuous drive to prove his earliest fans right. "You guys chose to bet on me as one of your favorite artists back when it was just 500 people in a room," he wants them to know. "I told you we were doing this thing and that I couldn't do it without you. And now we're doing it!"